A Great Read: The Glass Menagerie

A Great Read: The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams

As a post-homeschooling mom, I now find myself with extra reading time. For the last almost 20 years I have read many things. MANY things. But, most of them have been for not only my own edification, but also for the edification of others; be they my own children or other students I have taught in co-ops or umbrella schools. Most of the books have been either history or health related, as those were the two main fields of interest I taught, in addition to the “Three R’s”.

Apparently, there are other books out there? This is what I’m told, anyway.

Our Lovely #2, being the English major, has taken it upon herself to develop a reading list for me; a post-homeschooling reading list of sorts. She knows how I love various types of stories but have just not had time to read, just for the pleasure of reading! There are stories she’s been introduced to in her classes, as well as classics I’ve never had time to read --all of these are “going on the list”, she says J

My first one completed was not really a book at all; it was a play. Now, I have stayed away from reading plays since high school. I don’t even know why --I just always have had this notion that they were hard to follow since they were not in paragraph form, or some such nonsense. But, she convinced me to give them a second look.

So I did. Obedient mom that I am, I recently read The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams. First of all, if you’ve never read a play, I encourage you to just from the standpoint of how time-friendly it is in our fast-paced world. You can read this play in an afternoon; while the kids are out playing, while you’re at the beach, while your little ones are napping --whatever! Imagine how smart and how good you will feel, knowing you finished a “book” in one sitting! Well, at least that’s the way I felt J

The story is a bit melancholy, so get ready for that. But, the characters are each very interesting in their own ways, and you find yourself drawn into the storyline almost immediately. That’s another great thing about plays; whereas “books” take their time to lay out characters and backstory, plays do not. You are given the backstory and personality of each character up-front and you put it into drive and go. LOVE that!

There are only 4 main characters, so your brain doesn’t have to work very hard on remembering a lot of interweaving of story and personality, either. And I found that at various times in the story, each character would evoke the same emotion from me for different reasons: pathos, annoyance, anger, joy. Very cool.

So, if you want a quick, easy, summer afternoon read, I highly recommend The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams. Read it and let me know what you think!